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Lieutenant governor campaign heats up with Sullivan's campaign trip, new video from McGuire

The campaign for the Republican Party nomination for lieutenant governor is in full swing, with Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan on a week-long campaign trip to Southeast Alaska and his opponent, Sen. Lesil McGuire, releasing a new animated music video on Thursday.

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The video, a three-minute message called “Reasons for McGuire,” features cheerful, egg-shaped figures celebrating McGuire’s legislative accomplishments and outlining her political priorities.

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It includes renderings of Alaska Natives in a kayak perched atop a whale, and a bear that appears to have been killed by a hunter — until it awakens and gives a wink and a thumbs-up.

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The ad was produced for about $4,000, according to Tom Anderson, McGuire’s ex-husband and managing partner at Optima Public Relations, which made the ad.

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It was inspired, he said, by an Australian train safety commercial called “Dumb Ways to Die,” which features nearly identical music and similar animated figures.

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McGuire recently returned from a campaign trip to Bethel, where she spent time visiting a local school and met with the graduating class at a dental training center.

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Sullivan, meanwhile, has been on a campaign tour in Southeast. According to his Facebook page, he has spent time in Sitka, Ketchikan, and Wrangell, speaking to a Rotary Club and a Chamber of Commerce, and meeting with business and political leaders.

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In a speech in Ketchikan, he made some sharp remarks about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska, which the federal government has kept off-limits to drilling.

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“One of the things I’ve suggested, too, is that if I was governor today, I’d probably invade ANWR,” he said, according to a story by local radio station KBRD. “What are they going to do, shoot you? Well, they might. But martyrdom goes a long way sometimes.”

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Other candidates for lieutenant governor include Democrats Bob Williams and Hollis French, and independent Craig Fleener.